The collection explained how the chocolate featured a locally-grown vanilla bean as its foundation. The chocolates were created into four bite-sized products and packaged as part of the Mother’s Day collection. In his search, he came across a Miami chocolatier who founded the city’s first chocolate factory.įor the experience, Chambers supplied Florida-grown vanilla extract and vanilla beans, and the chocolatier went to work and crafted a variety of bon bons with successful results. He test-marketed a choice vanilla bean grown in a shade house at the Homestead UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC). To do so, Chambers sought to work with a local business. For the Sunshine State, it’s one step closer to opening the doors for a viable industry.Īlan Chambers beside one of the vanilla cultivars in the shade house from a collection of more than 300 that he has been testing over time.Īlan Chambers, a tropical plant geneticist at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), wanted to mix chocolate and vanilla as he works on the next steps in his vanilla research. That’s great news for bakers, chefs and home growers who wish to work with Florida-grown vanilla.
MIAMI, Fla.– What happens if you mix a cacao bean with a vanilla bean produced from a specific Florida-grown vanilla cultivar? The outcome was a winning combination that resulted from the latest experiment cooked up by a University of Florida scientist and a Miami chocolatier.